Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 23:32:58 -0400 From: Shannon Hendrix <shannon@widomaker.com> To: Neil Blakey-Milner <nbm@mithrandr.moria.org> Cc: FreeBSD-newbies@freeBSD.org, FreeBSD-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Without BSD...(humor) Message-ID: <20001011233257.B14974@widomaker.com> In-Reply-To: <20001008191356.A24008@mithrandr.moria.org>; from nbm@mithrandr.moria.org on Sun, Oct 08, 2000 at 07:13:56PM %2B0200 References: <39E084A8.3D20844@uswest.net> <20001008191356.A24008@mithrandr.moria.org>
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On Sun, Oct 08, 2000 at 07:13:56PM +0200, Neil Blakey-Milner wrote: > On Sun 2000-10-08 (08:28), Joe Warner wrote: > > You know those Karl's Jr. commercials where the guy > > walks into a grocery store and stares blankly at a shelf > > of a hundred or so brands of bread? > > > > Now picture the same guy walking into a computer or > > software store, staring blankly at a shelf of Linux > > distributions.... > > > > 1. http://www.topology.org/linux.html#os > > A better list is at http://www.ldl.cx/ - Linux distribution list: > > ``The LDL currently holds 180 distributions - 9 added and 1 updated since > last update'' I've been using Linux for a very long time, and I get more sick of the direction some people are taking it each year. Red Hat is both angel and devil. I think they have helped a lot, but I also think they have done a ton of damage. Mandrake has done a lot to create a distribution that installs nicely, and is attractive to new users. But they've also created a bloated mess that would make any admin cry. I can't speak for SuSE, but I did try it once and find little difference. I think wrapping up the mess in /etc/sysconfig with various UIs is a huge mistake, because that's basically what Windows is. Nothing wrong with a GUI wrapper, but I fear it is used an excuse to not fix the problems with normal administration. The tools I've seen are hard to use manually and with the GUIs (i.e. adminstering in different ways), and that's a disaster waiting to happen. I believe Debian and Slackware are more sane in that regard, but they are not dominant, and still suffer from the problems associated with C libraries, Gnome, etc. Maybe it will all work out, but it's all bad enough that you have to worry, a lot. No doubt the open source idea is still very young, and partly to blame. I've run BSD for years, but hardware issues kept me from putting it on my main box. Now I'm seriously considering it, even though my current Debian setup is very stable. I have tried to keep the system lean, but there are still over 130K files in /usr (yes, one hundred thirty thousand). I have a lot of apps installed, but they number under 100. It's the ton of themes, config files, libraries, and applets that come with the Gnome setup. Of course, that's a UNIX problem (no standard GUI system), but it seems worse on Linux than when I duplicate the setup on FreeBSD. I want Linux to start merging and think a single from source distribution should be created, just like the BSD systems. It's insane that we don't have that. Hopefully the BSD systems will fully benefit from the large library of software being created for Linux, and at the same time can influence the path Linux is taking. It needs help. -- UNIX/Perl/C/Pizza__________________________________shannon@widomaker.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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